The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1887-04-09
IAN experiment in profitable transgres-

QiOn.O
The renowned millionaire. T,eander Harls-
ness. sat in his Office in San Francisco, writ
ing dispatches to his brokers in New York
and Chicago, when note was handed to
him by messenger
Dear SIR" he read, ''I approach you with
some hesitation, knowing perfectly the objection
which you viii naturally have to entertaining
the proposition am about to mako to you. !
nave no guarantee to Offer You that approach
you In good faith, except the fact that can in
no way hc benefited by the experiment which
propose to make, unless IL Is absolutely what IL
pretcnus 70 be. have made u great discovery,
which VIII dvuge to you on certain conditions,
| u YOU will grant me an interview OF not less
IMAM naif an hour. Yours respectfully,
"HETSRICH WACHrMEIsTER."
"Tcll him to get out" said Mr.. Hardness
To the messenger, as he flung the letter into
| the woste-paper basket. Ho scribblcd on
Tor few minutes in silence, then leaned
over to consult the typo upon which the
ticker" behind him was printing the market
quotations. Suddenly his face frightened.
"By jingop he exclaimed; "Union Pacific
at 81. That's two hundred thousand In my
pocket!"
His humor was much improved by this
piece of good luck, and as he strobe through
the outer offices he felt the agreeable ex-
hilaration of man at peace with the world.
when he was accosted at the door by a
! round-shouldered, youngish-lookinc man,
with blonde beard and spectacles, he did
not repeat his invitation to "get out"
"Are you the fellow that wrote the
| letter." he asked.
with your permission ] am" the young
man replied, with a marked German accent.
u think you would find it to your own ad-
vantage not to refuse me the interview"
"All right; come in"
He turned around briskly and passed
through the ground-glass door to the inner
| office, leaving the German to follow. Mr..
| Hardness was, like most OF the bonanza
men of the Pacific coast, OF q sangune and
adventurous temper, and but scantily
equipped with education. He was ready
Tor any thing in which there was money,
and no proposition in which money was in
volved was too daring for his consideration.
He was young and already twenty times a
millionaire. To his visitor he seemed the
very incarnation Of the hearty, generous,
slam-bang recklessness Of the Pacific coast.
1t would have surprised him, no doubt, if
he had SUSPECTED that this specialized. un-
Notwithstanding foreigner had made q
complete inventory of his characteristics
from merely seeing him in the street and
from hearing the rumor OF his daring
maneuvers on the stock exchange.
"Well," Hardness remarked, sire away.
I've got just fifteen minutes"
"Half an hour" said tho German, firmly
"Well, fire away, man. Time at this hour
OF the day is worth thousand dollars a
minute"
GAN right. Then I will be brief My
name is Heinrich Wachtmoister. was
two years ago tutor in chemistry at the uni
versity Of Utrecht. In that capacity was
led to make certain experiments which re-
suited in my discovering what thousands
have sought for in vain-the secret Of
making gold. You open your eyes, no
doubt, in wonder. So did I. The gold was
found in my possession, together with a
number Of metallic plates and instruments,
which the stupid officials concluded were
intended for counterfeiting. They would
not believe my story, Of course, that
made the. gold. For counterfeiting was
accordingly tried and sentenced to two
years Imprisonment. I have just now
served out my sentence"
"You are jail-bird, then. It's pity
you didn't stay longer"
swat a moment and you will sce."
DR.. Wachtmeister here entered upon a
detailed explanation Of his chemical expert
ments, declaring that gold had never been
proved to be an element, and that, il it was
compound, there was no reason why it
should not be made. Science had solved
many riddles in modern times which to the
past were insoluble. He begged Mr.. Hark-
ness to grant him the privilege Of proving
to him and five of his friends, whom Mr..
Hardness should himself appoint, that his
statements We're true. He asked for no
salary or emoluments, but only desired to
associate Mr.. Hardness renowned name
with his own in an enterprise which,
if he carried it on alone, would ex-
pose him to fresh difficulties with the
law. There was such ring of sincerity
and earnestness in his speech that the mill
ionaire was more than half persuaded. He
declared that he would let him know in q
week whether he could grant his request;
and instantly cabled to Utrecht to ascertain
whether the story relating to the imprison-
ment and trial for counterfeting were true.
He received the next day cablegram cor
roborating the story in all particulars. A
second appointment was accordingly made,
and the test, in the presence OF witnesses,
agreed upon. Wachtmeister begged as u
favor that some of these might be scientific
experts, whose Judgment had weight. This,
too, was readily conceded.
III.
The momentous day at last arrived. In
Harkness' Office half dozen of the million
ares dependents were gathered, all pledged
to absolute secrecy, on the penalty of losing
their patrons favor. Wachtmcister ar
rived at the appointed hour, carrying q
starch-box under his arm and followed by q
boy who carried small blast furnace,
about the size of plumbers melting pot.
He was introduced to each member of the
company, among whom there was one who
had been induced to personaue the scientific
expert. For Hardness, who, like most men
of his stamp, had small faith in scientists.
had concluded that such u one might
readily steal the secret (Which he was now
convinced was we'll worth stealing,) and
he had, for this reason, made, for the nonce,
professor of chemistry out Of ore of his
clerks named Sawyer. Wachtmeister i'm
mediately engaged this gentleman ia con-
versation, and measured, in an instant, the
extent Of his scientific requirements.
The little Introductory speech which no
made have not the space to repeat; but IL
was very clever.
'Now, gentlemen" he said in conclusion,
~ must commit myself to your honor.
beg OF you to examine carefully the con-
tents of this box. You see that it contains
some black sand--a very common article,
which is found in abundance round about
in the State. Here hold in my hund o
small bottle Of sulphate of iron. y
But, pardon me! came near forgetting.
merely wish to convince you that my pro.
cess is above ve-board-without suspicion OF
fraud. You will not require Of me that |
hall 20 ~